Thursday, October 6, 2011

What if gardening lengthened summer and shortened winter?

In February
of this year, I got out my seed starting equipment; flats with clear plastic
lids, heat mats, and built a temporary table in the basement and then hung grow
lights over it. In March, I started several flats of seeds; basil, eggplant and
some flowers.

A few weeks later, I came home from a greenhouse with flower
seeds to direct sow in the ground. I spent much of April planning both how to
build beds in our 10x10 foot community garden plot, and got through May
planning where to put plants in dirt.

On June 3 our
community garden plot was open for planting, and Jay and I loaded our car with
pots, plants and planks to start our community garden. With the late start,
June and July were all about water and growth. I started harvesting peppers,
eggplant and tomatoes in August.

Production slowed with a cool September, but I
been steadily harvested tomatoes and peppers and a few more eggplant. We gained
two more weeks of ripening by covering the plants, twice, to protect from
frost. But with October’s shortened days and unpredictably frosty nights, it’s
time to strip the peppers and green tomatoes and wait for a hard frost to
sweeten the brussel sprouts.

There’s still
garden work to do. Later in October Jay and I will clean out the garden, loosen
the soil with a pitch fork and add horse manure and compost to fill in the settled
beds. Then we’ll stake out two rows with string and plant nearly a pound of
garlic (three varieties) which equates to somewhere around 30+ cloves. Finally,
we’ll spread out a light layer of hay to protect the soil.

As I was grieving
the end of the gardening season, I realized that this year, the gardening
season was a full nine months long, significantly lengthening what I usually
think of as a three-month summer of June to August.

Our garden
provided planning, anticipation, birth, growth, harvest, preserving and completion.
It provided great joy, a learning experience and an abundance of food for us
and a local food pantry. I got to know more of my co-workers by gardening with
them. And looking ahead, Jay and I will eat the fruits of our labor (salsa,
baba ganoush, pesto and marinara sauce).

As the garden
goes to sleeps, we’ll enjoy autumn leaves, carve pumpkins for Halloween, gather
with family for Thanksgiving. Before you know it, we’ll move right into
Christmas. The New Year will be upon us and I’ll have to trudge my way through
the long, dark month of January. And in February, I’ll get out those seed flats
and lights. Maybe winter isn’t as long as I used to dread it to be.

Join my ongoing adventures in urban gardening, told through the eyes of a mid-life man raised on a farm now living in Madison, Wisconsin. A lot of how I garden I "just know" from years at my mother's side in her garden. Here, I share that farm wisdom and write about community gardens, and other urban and organic gardening topics I happen upon as my gardening adventure continues.